Pediatric prion diseases

What are pediatric prion diseases?

Also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), prion diseases affect both humans and animals. A prion is a type of protein that causes normal proteins in the brain to abnormally fold. This results in brain damage.

With only about 300 cases in the United States each year, prion diseases are considered to be rare. In most cases, these conditions are fatal.

Risk factors

Factors that can increase a child’s risk of contracting a prion disease include:

• Eating meat infected with “mad cow disease” (disease passed from cows to humans that affects the brain and spinal cord)
• Family history of prion disease
• Infection from contaminated medical equipment or having received a transplanted, contaminated cornea

What are the different types of pediatric prion diseases?

The types of prion diseases in humans include:

• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CDJ) is a rapidly progressive disease that affects the neurological system that is always fatal.
• Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is caused by the same agent that causes “mad cow disease,” this is a disorder that affects the brain and is always fatal.
• Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome is a very rare brain condition that runs in families, affects individuals between the ages of 20 and 60 years old and is always fatal.
• Fatal familial insomnia is a rare disorder that is passed down in families and interferes with an individual’s sleep, which leads to the breakdown of brain function and loss of coordination.
• Kuru is a very rare brain condition found among the people of New Guinea who ate the brains of the deceased as part of their funeral rites.

What are the signs and symptoms of pediatric prion diseases?

• Confusion
• Extreme tiredness
• Hallucinations
• Muscle stiffness
• Sudden personality changes
• Trouble speaking
• Trouble walking and changes in walking pattern (gait)
• Trouble with memory or sudden-onset dementia